The 2024 Paris Olympics is the 33rd edition of the prestigious Games which brings athletes from various countries together for a common goal of earning a podium finish.
Over the years, established athletes have shone on the biggest of stages as expected, while the Games have also served up numerous emerging talents along the way.
With the much-anticipated Paris Games already on the way, Afrosport highlights some of the biggest names expected to explode on the grandest of stages over the next few weeks.
Tobi Amusan
Amusan is Nigeria’s shining light at the upcoming Games, which has been highlighted by her selection as one of the country’s two flag bearers.
The 27-year-old, who is the current world record holder in the women’s 100-metre hurdles event, will be participating in the Games for the third time, having previously competed at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, where she just fell short of a podium finish having ended in fourth place.
However, with Amusan’s success at the African Games in Accra, Ghana, earlier in the year, coupled with the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which cleared her of the anti-doping violations, the Nigerian track queen is expected to race for glory when the track events kick off in Paris.
Faith Kipyegon
The Kenyan is one of the highly rated athletes heading into the Games in Paris, and with two gold medals from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, she has a target on her back as the chasing packs will be looking to knock her off her perch.
Kipyegon is the world record holder in the 1500-metre event and the former world record holder in the 5000m. She also claimed two gold medals in the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary, in both the 1500m and 5000m events.
With her current form having won both events at the 2024 Kenyan Olympic trials in Nairobi in June, as well as breaking her own 1500m world record in a time of 3:49.04 at the Meetind de Paris on July 7, Kipyegon is in prime position to rule the world once again at the Games in Paris.
Simone Biles
Arguably the greatest gymnast of all time, Biles’ skill and success have been loudly on display over the last two editions of the Olympics.
The 27-year-old has a total of 37 medals in both the Olympics and World Athletics Championship, making her the most decorated gymnast in history.
Boasting seven Olympic medals, Biles, who ranks No. 9 on the list of decorated gymnasts and will become the fourth American female artistic gymnast to participate in three Olympic Games, is poised to add more to her already stacked cabinet of laurels.
Noah Lyles
The charismatic American sprinter is surely one to pay keen interest to at the Olympics in Paris, as he will be looking to turn his bronze medal from Tokyo to gold.
The 27-year-old is the hottest name on the lips of everyone in the sprint world, with three gold medals in the last edition of the World Athletics Championship in 2023 when he led the pack in the 100m and 200m events as well as anchoring the United States to glory in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Lyles, who will be chasing his first-ever gold medal at the Games, enters the Olympics with a hunger to be as dominant as he has been all year, earmarking his position as the possible favourite to dethrone Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs, who stunned the world in Tokyo to take the gold.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs
Jacobs is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 metres event in the Olympics after he delivered a shocker to the world at the Tokyo 2020 Games, where he won the gold medal and led the Italian team to glory in the men’s 4x100m relay.
The 29-year-old, a former long jumper who is also the European 100-metre champion and record holder, is the man to beat at this year’s event.
Jacobs peaked at the right time, and despite having run above the 10-second mark this year, he went “sub-10” for the first time this season when he clocked 9.92s to claim victory at the Paavo Nurmi Games, a time that was his competitive fastest since he ran 9.80s in Tokyo.
Coco Gauff
The reigning US Open champion will be making her debut at the Olympic Games. However, despite being a debutant, the American tennis star has the spotlight on her as one of the biggest athletes in Paris.
Currently ranked No. 2 in the world in women’s tennis, Gauff, who was selected alongside LeBron James as Team USA’s flag bearers, will be looking to break the United States’ 12-year wait for a gold medal in the women’s singles event at the Olympics after Serena Williams achieved the feat at the London 2012 Games.
Sha’carri Richardson
The fastest woman in the world, Sha’carri Richardson, has a point to prove at the Olympics after missing out on the Tokyo 2020 Games due to a one-month ban for cannabis usage.
At 24, Richardson’s ceiling is as high as any other female athlete that has ruled the sprint scene over the years. She has subsequently sent out numerous warnings to her other competitors, having won the 100-metre event at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, clocking a championship record of 10.65 seconds as well as going on to win gold as part of Team USA in the women’s 4x100m relay final with a championship record of 41.03 seconds.
Now set to compete in her first Olympics, the American is ready to upset the athletic scale at the Games that consist of the biggest names in the sports and win her first Olympic medal.
Ese Brume
For all the excitement that the track events provide, one of Nigeria’s best chances of winning a medal of any sort at the Olympics rests heavily on the shoulders of long jump specialist Ese Brume.
The 28-year-old, the reigning Commonwealth Games and African champion, is one of the consistent medal providers Nigeria has in recent times, boasting continued successes across different competitions.
Brume won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020—which was one of the two medals Nigeria got at the Games—and her intention will be to move up two spots on the podium, so as to replicate the success of the legendary Chioma Ajunwa, who won a gold medal in long jump in the Atlanta 1996 Games.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, the Jamaican has seen it all in the Olympics, where she has eight medals to her name—three gold, two silver, and three bronze medals.
Fraser-Pryce, a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist will be looking to become the first woman to win three gold medals in the women’s 100m event at the Games, a record that’s also on the plate for her compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah, who has won the last two Olympic gold medals in the event, but unfortunately will miss out of the Paris Olympics due to a torn Achilles injury.
Although she will be facing stern competition from a lot of other interested parties, Thompson included, if anyone can live up to the pressure the competition provides and put doubters to rest, it is Fraser-Pryce.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
The defending champion in the women’s 400 metres hurdles, McLaughlin-Levrone won the gold medal at Tokyo 2020 setting the Games record, as well as leading Team USA gold in the 4x400m relay.
The 24-year-old, who is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event, set a new world record time of 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, signalling her readiness to hold on to her top spot at the Games in Paris.
